The news that Hering Propellers in Marysville, Wash., had been sold back to Jim Hering in March caught just about everyone who wasn’t actually in on the deal by surprise. Hering sold the high-performance powerboat propeller company to private investor Eric Hammon in 2007, and Hammon worked to increase the company’s number of CNC (computer numerical control) milling machines and boost its foundry output.

But the years since the sale of Hering have not been kind to the marine industry and even less so to the go-fast boat segment. For Hammon, who funneled serious resources into the company, four-plus years was enough. And to his credit, he left things better than he found them in many ways. That isn’t something everyone who buys and later sells a company can say.